Self Designs - Linda Gwaltney

September 15, 1989|By YAVOCKA YOUNG Staff Writer

If you have visited Cowling's Restaurant, Smithfield Station or Isle of Wight Inn, then you have seen Linda Gwaltney's work. She is a self-taught interior decorator and the owner of Ashton Galleries on Battery Park Road in Smithfield.

She and her husband, Cecil, bought what used to be a barn, renovated it, and opened her shop in 1984. She had previously been a real estate agent who sold furniture and did sewing part-time.

Within her five-year career, she has decorated restaurants and model homes. Her work can be seen in the model home of Queen Anne Courts and at Morris Creek Landing. She does window design, which includes draping and wall papering, and sells furniture, gift items and accessories. Gwaltney has two part-time assistants.

"My goal right now is to let people know that we're here," she says. "They don't have to go out of town."

She says there is little competition locally, but some of her prospective customers flock to department stores, many because they do not know about Ashton Galleries. She finds it a challenge to compete with big businesses, which have larger stocks and staffs.

Gwaltney says interior decorating is a slow but moving business. A person in her position must learn patience and know how to deal with the public, she says.

Because interior decorating involves creativity, co-workers and others are always willing to give her ideas, she says. Sometimes ideas of others are incongruent with her own. She says when a manager decides to go with his or her own opinion, he must do so without discouraging input.

As any small-business owner knows, she feels the risks and pressure of the business world.

"If things don't go right, you've either got to bite the bullet or make it right," says Gwaltney.

She met her Smithfield-native husband when he was in college in North Carolina. They were married and settled in Smithfield in 1966. He is part-owner of Gwaltney Motor Co. in Smithfield. They have two adult children.

The Gwaltneys often work together in the Smithfield Little Theater. He does directing, while she works with production.

Ashton Galleries is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.